No surprises.

In an effort to make sure nobody at all was surprised, the bipartisan debt commission pre-announced their widely expected failure to agree on anything. Each side seems to offer enough to appear to compromise, without actually doing it. Motivation and reason are lacking. Predictably, this has led to quite a drop in stock prices.

Of course, people are not letting this get in the way of their holiday plans: AAA is projecting a rise in travel this holiday. Thats no surprise - the economy has been having a steady tap of good news for months now!